In the first days of February and no later than the 10th, the first 3.6 million doses of Novavax, the anti Covid vaccine that uses the recombinant protein technique, in use for some time against diseases such as pertussis, hepatitis, meningitis, herpes zoster and other viral infections.
Novavax vaccine, why it is different from others and how it can help us against Covid
by Aureliano Stingi
Its use was approved in the session of the AIFA CTSS last December 22 for all those aged 18 and over. The first tranche of the vaccine should provide for a delivery of 3.6 million doses while the doses destined for our country are 27 million over the whole of 2022.
Recently the American company announced its intention to start tests on a new version of the vaccine adapted to the Omicron variant.
Not just vaccines
Paxlovid, Pfizer’s antiviral pill, is also expected to arrive in Italy in the next few days. Meanwhile, after the green light from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the oral antiviral Paxlovid also arrives in Italy: the Commissioner for the emergency Francesco Figliuolo, in agreement with the Ministry of Health, has signed a contract with Pfizer for the supply in 2022 of 600 thousand complete treatments of the new drug.
The first tranche foresees the arrival of 11,200 treatments in the first week of February and will be distributed by Figliuolo in the hospital pharmacies of the Regions, while the rest of the treatments will arrive in the coming weeks and months.
Green light of the Ema to the Pfizer pill. The other therapies to treat Covid
by Valeria Pini
How the antiviral will be used
The criteria for the use of the drug were defined in the Friday meeting of the Technical Scientific Commission of the Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa): it will be prescribed by general practitioners, the USCAT, 118 or the emergency rooms themselves and it will then be up to the patient to pick it up at the hospital pharmacy and then continue the treatment at home.
Pfizer’s anti Covid pill, here’s what we know about the new antiviral drug
Paxlovid is recommended for the treatment of Covid in adults with “mild to moderate disease” who do not need supplemental oxygen and who are at high risk of the disease becoming severe. Based on the studies considered by the EMA, it showed a reduction in the risk of hospitalization or death of 89%, if administered within 3 days of the onset of symptoms, and 88% within five days. The AIFA Cts establishes that the therapy begins within 5 days of the onset of symptoms and must be continued for 5 days. Pfizer’s drug will be added to Merck’s oral antiviral, the Lagevrio pill, with which 1,662 patients have already been treated.
The first delivery arrived on January 3, the second in the middle of the month.